doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The Model 12 as a way of life-

With apologies to my Vietnam era USMC pen-pal, John Hewitt of Anchorage AK-- great book--

Friday, 11/11 Veterans Day- decided to do a sunrise morning hunt at area arm with a nice pond surrounded by rolling picked corn ields- a goose magnet in NE Kent County, MI- and a farm I have been hunting for 25 years hand running=

Don't need but a few dekes in the field, perhaps a few floaters, and the geese move out right after dawn's first blush in the East- a West wind or hunting the best side of the pond is great, lots of brush and scrub for concealment- First flock of 5 honkers came in quietly at 0740 hrs- and decided to land on the pond, so I didn't get a shot, just added 5 decoys you can't buy from Mack's PW in AK to my few floaters- About 10 minutes and a spilled mug of hot coffee, as their ker-honk startled me-- I was scanning the sky for mallards- I came up as they hit the pond's edge and I swung the muzzle of my "pet" M12 through the long neck and head- the Limey's "Bum, Belly, Beak-then BANG" scenario, and the big honker crumpled and came down, crashing through the brush- as there were more birds working, and I was 95% sure that bird was as dead as Julies Caesar, I sat back down on my camo stool and waited- hoping to take a 3 bird daily honker limit--

Five more birds were incoming, but they "short-stopped" on the pond, and I prefer to have my birds drop on the harvested cornfield, and not in the pond- I lost my Black Lab "Khartoum" last winter to cancer-age 6, but's that's another story-- so and pond dropped birds means I get the camo canoe out from the brush hide on the pond's West side shoreline and do my own retrieving. As the pond is fenced all away around, as sometimes dairy cattle move around the pond, "Khartoum" was not always as rock-solid on water retrieves there, as he is/was on the Flat River where we live (Smyrna area, below Belding) where there are no fences or livestock on the farms I hunt that access the river-

3 years ago, he went after a mallard in another farm drain pond, but the 4 strand of wire fencing was electrified- top and middle strand had the insulators- and I carry a ground line hot circuit detector (you can get them a TSC-good investment if you hunt fenced farms, IMO)- anyway, he bumped the bottom strand into the next strand above it, which was hot- dropped the dead duck and ran off howling like Hillary Clinton after the election returns came in and she knew she had lost-- and as Mark Twain once so sagaciously observed about cats in a kitchen with a hot stove, he shied away any strung fence wires after that.

I decided to find the dead bird, and with the sun up and the cloud cover fading rapidly and a 15 mph (est'd) NE wind, I thought, well, as Nash Buckingham advised, always carry your shotgun with you when looking or a downed bird- dove or duck--

Somehow I went down the very muddy two-track, walking carefully along the grassy edges, thinking that the big honker landed further away than I had first thought, apres the shot-- then I turned and looked back to the North to the old barbed wire ence line and the locust tree where I had been sitting when I shot the bird- and I saw the black and gray of the wings, and abit of the white chin strap- Now I should have walked straight back towards the big dead bird I had shot, but as there were two older 16 foot steel tubing gates (rusty) laying in the grass and weeds ahead of my straight-line approach to the tree and the dead goose-, I foolishly decided to walk the edge, right alongside of the greasy muddy and wet puddly tw-track. Big mistake- I lost my footing, and dumped into the water and greasy mud- thank God the farm turdsmen use another two-track less greasy when they haul the "turd hearse" out to spred the cowshit- if I had falled into wet cowshit, I don't think I'd care to admit it- Anyway, the Model 12 went into the puddle, and when I picked it up, the brown greasy globby mud made it look like the Duck Dynasty rednecks had just dipped it into a vat of tanish chocolate syrup, to camo it I guess. Of course, the muzzle was plugged with mud, and I could get the two shells out of the magazine tube with the help of a Buck knife, but not the one in the chamber, as the action was jammed shut-

Long hike back to the Quad, left the decoys and the bag there, but took the M12 and the dead bird back to the main farmyard and milking house, where I park my Jeep, and I knew there were two water tanks (full of crap and what all- but better still- a hot water pressure hose in the milking parlor, where the big stainless steel raw milk tank is, and with floor drainage- So I hosed of my muddy camo pants, the Cabela's camo parka that dates back to 1986, when I became a DU Sponsor member, and we all received a camo parka along with our membership sponsor pins as well- And I blasted steaming hot water down the muzzle of the M12- and into the ejection port, with the bolt closed into battery, and that freed up the jammed action so I could get the live round out-put in back in the Jeep but not in the case, no sense in getting a Boyt case all crapped up--

Headed for home- shower, clean clothes, the muddy pants and camo Parka hung outside on the back deck area- boots awaiting a later "de-mudding"--

I have dropped that M12 3 times in the Flat river when I slipped, wearing waders- before Khartoum and I became a "hunting team" and have always detail stripped it down, let it dry out and used Hoppe's and WD-40, re-assembled and went on shooting it- but this was heavy clay soil mud, compounded by having one of the rainiest October's on MI record in last 35 years- So a wipe off, with paint thinner, and a complete detail strip, including removing the bolt-- and of course, the magazine tube was included- ull of water when I removed the end cap and slid out the magazine spring, 3 shot wooden plug with red steel end cap- and the magazine follower/cap-- As I use a Kick-Eze slip on pad with the M12 in early season, I slid that off and removed the buttplate, and sure enough, a few drops of water came out when I did the old "pour that piss out of a boot with instructions on the hell" scenario- so I also got out the long extension screw driver, and removed the buttstock completely, drying out the bolt and washer and spraying with WD040- I set the now stripped buttstock butt hole upwards in a padded vise, and put a 200 watt worklight over it, directed into the butthole bored into the buttstock for locking bolt access.

All the machine screws, front magazine cap locking pin, trigger housing group locking machine screw, were dried, cleaned with a toothbrush with Hoppe's, and then sprayed with Rem Oil- Last night after supper, I re-assembled the action and barrel/magazine ube group- 100% A-OK- and I will let the buttstock air dry until Sun night, and then will re-assemble it to the receiver-with WD-40 on both the bolt and washer, but also into the receiver boss extension, which I cleaned out with a Q-tip dipped in Hoppe's-

I'll take it our again Monday 14th- last duck hunt for two weeks, as our firearm deer season opens 15/Nov. and I don't mix deer hunting with a .30-06 with waterfowling with a 12 gauge.

I would like to hear from any of you guys that duck/goose hunt and have taken a dunking with whatever shotgun you were using that day, and how you proceeded to strip and clean it. I grew up with Model 12's- to me, at age 75, there is no other repeating shotgun quite like it-but others will say the same thing about: Remmington 870's and 1100's, Brownings, Berettas, etc. Buy nasty weather and mud, snow and sleet, leave your LC Smith LongRange or AH Fox HE grades in the gun safe, and take a M12 or a Mossenburgher 835 Ulti-Mag- simple pump guns you can strip and clean and get back into action with fairly easily.

And by the way, this was a good day-in spite of my loss of footing- Saw the pink morning sky, the colors even Van Gogh or Vermeer or Monet could never capture on canvas. Nash B. mentioned a "Stygian" sky, have always wondered what that meant. Not sure, but I'll bet a box of Winchester Blindside No. 2 steel that it is pretty darn spectacular- RWTF

Nice post Francis. While I have owned at least one M12 between 1981 and October 2016 (I expect it will be a short absence from my gun safe) I have never had an M12 completely submerged. I have done it several times with my late 1970's 870 Wingmaster.

Pulled it out of the water, took out the shells, allowed the water to drain from action and magazine tubes, went back to hunting. Get back to camp at the end of the day, spray some hoppes #9 into the action and other spots, work the action a few times to spread it around and wiped the whole gun down. Works better today than when I received it 37 years ago.

I save my obsessing for my SxS's and my 98% M12 16 gauge.

Whilst I admire the Model 12, I've never shot one well enough to keep it.

Cleanup after a rainy day or a dunking or whatever is where a plastic stock Benelli really shines.

Gun is in pieces in seconds with no tools, except for a buttstock pull and that's about a minute of effort with the correct metric socket and an extension. Oil and airhose out the action spring and tube, the magazine tube and spring, reassemble the receiver to the stock, and presto. Plus, the job can wait until after dinner and a cocktail.

I enjoy doubleguns, but nice days only please!

Good story Fox.

Francis,
My go to duck gun in the 70�s early 80�s was an Ithaca M37 12 gauge that I bought new. We hunted the Savannah River spoilage area which is located in SC across the river from Georgia. It was square miles of shallow water settlement ponds where dredging spoils were held when the Hordes of Engineers dredged the shipping channel. Usually dry in the summer, the area was filled with wild plant and grass seeds. The area was flooded several inches in the winter and was a duck haven. One of the regulars we hunted with was a Huey pilot at the nearby Army Airfield. While shallow, the bottom was �pluff� mud and difficult to wade in so we stood on pallets and traveled by canoe to the blinds. One morning I was with Rip and the canoe capsized in the pitch dark. We righted it, loaded it. My gun was missing. I tried to find it but it was pointless. After the hunt, I called Dale, the Huey pilot. I told him the predicament and I predicted it would be visible from altitude as a straight line in the mud. He knew the general area where we hunted. Dale test flew a Huey over the area and spotted it. As he hovered low with a crewman on a skid with a wire hook to fish it out, the prop wash from the Huey was too much for visibility. He flew back to Hunter AAF and came back with a light observation helicopter with less prop wash and made the retrieve. When he got back to the base, he hosed it down and coated it with oil. I stripped the gun, removed the stock, barrel, slide, bolt, followers, mag stop, trigger mechanism, magazine innards, washed it in hot soapy water and sprayed it down with WD 40, wiped it clean and oiled it. Unfortunately, the brackish water removed the bluing from the receiver, but I shot the gun for years afterwards and eventually gave it to a buddy. If one factors in the costs of two helicopters, crew and fuel, the value of the gun exceeded what a Sousa grade M37 would be valued at the time. Gil

Yes- no mistaking the backwash chop the rotors from a UH-1 Huey- bending the elephant grass on a Med-Evac mission- never mistake that sound anywhere- Hell of a deal, your chopper pilot pal sounds like the "real deal"--and I like the M37 well enough, except I am a pass shooter mainly, and prefer the slight extra muzzle fore-ward weight of the Model 12- I have 2 3" Mag Model 12's as well, and did two things to alter them to my body build, length of arm, etc- for more efficient pass shooting- (1) removed by boring out about 2/3rd.'s of the lead ballast weight in the buttstock cavity- aprox. parallel to the buttstock access hole for the locking machine screw- (2) Most of my Model 12's- pre-1950-ish- have about 14" to 14& 3/16" LOP, depending on buttstock pad or recoil pad- But the factory std. for the 3" Mag M12 was I believe 13 &5/8"- WRA designers guessed it would be a late season shotgun for longer range shots, and the owner might be wearing more clothing than typically worn on Oct. opening day-I can shoot a shotgun with a slightly longer LOP than I prefer in LOP (14&5/16"), but anything 14" or less I do not do so well with-- unless you have a Kick-Eze slip on pad available.

I also endorse the Winchester Blindside steel No. 2 loads, in both 2& 3/4" and also 3"- (I would rather French kiss Monica Lewinski than shoot a 3&1/2" Mag- and 90% of my shots at geese and mallards are at under 25 yards and closing- Dead Bang- if I do my part- the M12's have never let me down. In past years I have won several Browning and Binelli 12 autoloaders at both DU and PF events- and promptly sold them ANIB-- to other attendees who didn't have a winning raffle ticket. Too old to change, and if it works well for you, as Model 12's seem to for me, well- my point of view it- "Let the young Turks have at it with the plastic stocks and alloyed lightweight receivers- I feel about them the same way I did after both USMC Boot Camp in 1960 and the M-1 Garands, and later in about 1965- the switch to the M-14's-when I first saw a AR-15 carbine- in the main armory at Pendleton-- "K-Mart Karbine"-- Not for me!!

Francis, here's my '57 M12 16 modified on a cold winter morning dove shoot with one of my best girls, Abby. Four of us covered the field for a memorable early morning shoot. Gil

Nice- later M12's had the forward set leaf spring deleted, supposed to stop the forward travel of the forearm when dis-assembly-ing the gun into the 2 component groups. The forearm shape was also a bit larger in dia. on the field guns. about 1957-58 is when WRA dropped the option of the solid rib. i have small hands, so I like the smaller diameter pre-1940 "corncob" style forearms- But any Model 12, no matter the gauge or year of mfg. is still the "Perfect Repeater".. Nice Brittany Spaniel. How does she do on doves- all those soft feathers and the warmish weather of the early part of the season-- Do you use decoys, or are you mainly pass shooting?? RWTF

In a woodcock cover somewhere on the north side of the Piscataquis river, my son slid down an embankment with his 16 ga M-12. The muzzle plunged deep into some of Maine's best diatomaceous earth. I didn't see it, but he was smart enough to unload and bring it to me.

Well, it would have been nice if he'd had the muzzle pointed straight down when he unloaded it.......

Anyway, we had a very sluggish-cycling M-12 receiver full of dirt, and having a bore plugged solid to some indeterminable depth. We fashioned a rod of a flexible stick and broke up the bore impaction. Then we pounded the receiver against a large tree till nothing further came down the bore. A good inspection, a cycling check, loaded it and continued on.

That was about six years ago. I hate to admit this, but still haven't dropped the trigger group/bolt for a serious cleaning. Last year the kid used it with 3/4 oz weenies to humiliate me and my 391 sport at a NSCA shoot.

I own enough Model 12s to outfit a squad, in 20,16, and 12 Gauges, however when I want to shoot with the perfect repeater I reach for a Remington Model 31 or 17

Sometimes I use a line decoy or Mojo. Some field owners ban Mojos. Loose dove feathers sometimes bother my dogs, but they bring the birds back to me (most of the time) Gil